Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-04-07

III.
Shah. His servants rob and plumber
him just rs persistently rs do those OF
the European residents or travellers
their employers, But there is fine
distinction A ''nudakhir' of ten per
cent. On the purchase price is very
straight forward. honorable and fair;
one OF twenty per cent is permissible,
but one of forty or fifty per cent 10
theft and brands the servant as dis
honest. Such one loses caste and could
only be excused by his countrymen if
his victim be newly arrived ''feren-
ghi.' :. European or American @: green
horn propensities. But even in that
case it would be held to be stretching
the bow little too far. As long as he
keeps within the bounds just men
toned the Persian servant may cheat
and swindle his master every minute if
he can. and he may proudly raise his
head and call himself an honest man in
Persia. The natives understand this
fine principle so well that even If the
master should, in exceptional cases,
take the trouble to purchase the goods
IN question himself the dealer will
always in the purchase. price include
the .'mudakhil' for the servant, 10 be
paid the latter on the nail as soon after
the sale rs he chooses to call for it
The Persian servant is not 8 very
superior article. He is lazy, dishonest,
slow, unreliable, untruthful, and decid-
eddy slovenly in his personal habits.
Besides, he il possessed of one charac-
teristic which will alone suffice to make
him distasteful TO the average Westerner
he is so horribly familiar. He iden-
titles himself so wholly with your per-
son and interests that he will interrupt
your conversation, do things in your
name You never wanted him TO, prom
Use or deny vicariously and with the
utmost show of authority. On the
other hand, the Persian servant is very
humble and faithful. II You pay him
his dues, let him appropriate what he
considers his rightful share Of your
wealth, and are not cruelty unjust to
him, he will stand any thing from you
without bearing malice. He may be
kicked and cuffed snd boxed around,
bastinadoed. and whipped within an
inch of his life, and he will still cling
to you and own You AZ his master if
you do not break the above paragraphs
Of the silent covenant with him. Their
needs are very few and simple as COM
pared with our own, and they are easily
satisfied. The monthly wages OF an
able-bodied Persian servant of average
skill and intelligence vary between 10
and so kraus ($1.5O to q. 50). and very
seldom reach the latter figure. The
Europeans in Persia pay the best
wages, but even they seldom pay more
than 40 kraus to valet and so kraus to
a cook. which includes the wages of his
assistant Of assistants. The Persian
dignitaries keep u ridiculously large
retinue of servants, often 156 TO POO.
But of this number but Il small fraction
have their domicile in the master
house. The chief servant arranges il
that certain proportion OF the total
number sleep at the masters house
each night by turns, and the rest spend
the night with their families.
The Persian treats his servant quite
differently from the European. In u
tiers is erected the ''fallakka." 1t is
here that corporal punishment is meted
out TO offending members of the do
mestic herd. the delinquent being
forced 20 put his two feet through
holes in a board, and. this being lifted
up. the chief Of the domestic police adj
ministers the stick TO the soles of the
offender until the number of strokes is
full. This procedure being over, the
delinquent Gf otherwise favorite SER
yant often receives u ''khalat' (robe
of honor) or other gift. in token of his
being received back into the good
graces of his master. At any rate, no
more is said about the bastinado just
gone through with, either by master or
man. and no ignominy attaches TO its
use. The Persian master while using
the ''fallakka" quite literally on occa-
sion. tire ats his servant generally with
great forbSrance and allows him much
latitude. He will make a confidant of
him to-day and send him to 'eat the
stick" persian for bastinado) to-mor-
row. knowing well that the man will
be-. him no grudge. What the Per-
sia,, servant can not endure is indiffer-
ence. the sort with which the average
European or American would treat his
servant.
Although poorly paid, the Persian
servant has lazy time of it. has often
chance to steal little. and stands on
. rather high rung of the social ladder
in Persia. He, therefore. serves his
master about as well as he understands
it. and certainly as we'll as that master
deserves. Cases of unaffected devotion
of man to master are not by any means
rare, and the fallen fortunes of this OF
that Persian grandee rarely deprive
him 81 the really "aluable part of his